Sikbāj (Sweet-and-Sour Meat Stew)

History

Sikbāj takes its name from a Persian compound meaning roughly 'vinegar stew' (from sik, 'vinegar'), and the word entered Arabic as a direct borrowing. The dish is far older than this 1226 cookbook: food historians trace it to Sasanian Persia, and an often-repeated tale sets a cooking contest at the court of Khosrau I (6th c.) in which every chef, asked for his finest dish, independently produced sikbāj. After the Abbasids founded Baghdad near the former Persian capital, sikbāj became a favorite of the new rulers — associated with caliphs such as Hārūn al-Rashīd — and, through imitation, a prestige dish of the elite. Later cooks kept it in the repertoire: it opens the sour-dishes chapter here in al-Baghdadī's Kitāb al-Ṭabīkh, and modern commentary on that very recipe calls it the 'king of dishes'. Its most-cited legacy runs westward: linguists treat sikbāj as the direct ancestor of Spanish escabeche — a doublet of the word, carried through Andalusi Arabic and Mediterranean dialects — the cold vinegar-marinated fish or meat dish. A further link is sometimes drawn onward to Latin American ceviche, but it is stated cautiously: scholars derive ceviche's name from a shortening of escabeche while noting the word is unattested for roughly three more centuries, making it a plausible lineage rather than a documented straight line.

Ingredients

• fatty meat
• coriander
• cinnamon
• salt
• white onion
• Syrian leek
• carrot
• eggplant
• wine vinegar
• date syrup
• saffron
• sweet almonds
• jujube
• raisins
• dried figs
• rosewater

Instructions

1. Cut fatty meat into medium pieces, place in the pot, cover with water, and add fresh green coriander, a stick of cinnamon, and salt to taste.
2. When it boils, skim off the froth with a ladle and discard; add dried coriander and remove the green coriander.
3. Peel white onion, Syrian leek, and carrot (or eggplant, split crosswise); parboil halfway in a separate pot of salted water, drain, and lay over the meat. (Variant: add spices and adjust salt here.)
4. When near done, mix wine vinegar with date syrup (or honey) to a balanced sour-sweet, pour in, and boil for an hour.
5. Off the heat, stir in saffron dissolved in a little broth.
6. Set halved peeled sweet almonds on top with a little jujube, raisins, and dried figs; cover an hour to settle over gentle heat.
7. Wipe the sides with a clean cloth, sprinkle rosewater over the top, and remove when settled.